(verb) : cŏ-arto (cŏarcto), āvi, ātum, 1
* To press together, compress, contract, confine (opp. laxo, dilato, etc.; class.).
* Prop.: faenum in struem,Col. 2, 19, 2; 8, 7, 2: alveum Tiberis (opp. laxo),Suet. Aug. 30: angustae fauces coartant iter,Liv. 28, 5, 8; so id. 33, 6, 7: viam,Dig. 43, 8, 2: forum,Tac. Or. 39; Front. Aquaed. 35: os et fauces sudario, to strangle one's self, Val. Max. 9, 12, 7 al.: Gnaeus in oppidis coartatus,Cic. Att. 7, 10 med.: in terra,Vulg. Exod. 14, 3.
* Trop.
* Of time, to abridge, shorten: tempus sponsas habendi,Suet. Aug. 34 fin.: consulatus aliorum,Tac. H. 2, 71: nox coartat iter,Ov. F. 5, 546: tempus potestatis censoriae,Val. Max. 4, 1, 3.
* Of discourse, to abridge, compress: ut Crassus haec quae coartavit et peranguste refersit in oratione suā, dilatet nobis atque explicet,Cic. de Or. 1, 35, 163; cf.: plura in unum librum,Plin. Ep. 1, 20, 8.
* ( = cogo.) To compel, constrain: aliquem ad solutionem debiti, Cod. Th. 2, 29, 2; Dig. 18, 1, 57; cf.: coarctor e duobus,pressed, urged,Vulg. Phil. 1, 23.

s. TLL